Marking specific portions of an image as selected is an indispensable task in image editing. Doing so serves as a starting point for many image editing operations such as background replacement, color and tone manipulation, copying and pasting, and so on. Scribble selection techniques allow a user to make a series of sparse strokes over an image to select a portion of the image. For example, a user may make a series of strokes on a touch-enabled display of a tablet device with a finger over portions of an image displayed on the display that are to be selected. The series of strokes can be used, along with information about the image, to determine a selected portion of the image.
In some cases, the strokes made by a user to select a portion of an image may not be completely accurate. A user's stroke may, for instance, cross over from a portion of the image the user intends to select to a background portion which the user does not intend to select. Even though a user may not intend an entirety of the stroked-over portion of the image to be selected, conventional techniques consider a user's strokes as being completely accurate when determining a selected portion from a scribbled input. This can pose a significant difficulty with making selections on smaller screens, such as those of touch-enabled tablet and mobile devices, however. When making scribbled selections on such screens it can be difficult for users to keep their strokes within the bounds of the objects they intend to select. This problem can be further exacerbated when a user's finger that is being used to make such a selection blocks the user from being able to see a portion of the object they are trying to select, making selection even more difficult. Consequently, conventional techniques for determining a selected portion of an image from a scribbled selection can fail to select portions of an image according to a user's intentions.